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ARS Home » Plains Area » Brookings, South Dakota » Integrated Cropping Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #194842
Title: AN EVALUATION OF AN ESTABLISHED CASE STUDY FOR ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

Author
item BALAMURALIKRISHNA, RADHA - NIU TECH DEPT
item Rosentrater, Kurt

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2006
Publication Date: 6/19/2006
Citation: Balamuralikrishna, R., Rosentrater, K.A. 2006. An evaluation of an established case study for engineering and engineering technology education. 2006 ASEE Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, June 18-21, 2006.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Engineering and technology educators focus on meeting existing and future needs of industry when designing the content domain and planning instructional methods in their discipline. However, undergraduate students in engineering and technology rarely have an opportunity to solve real world problems that require integration across several disciplinary branches of engineering and those outside of engineering. This makes it difficult for students to make the transition from academia to industry especially in an era where the principles of concurrent engineering are employed in new product design and development. Therefore, there is a strong need to bring challenging, industry involved problems into our classrooms today. The case study approach has long been used in business education but only recently made its entry into engineering education but with significant momentum. Nationwide, case studies are becoming very popular educational tools throughout engineering and technology curricula. In fact, during the last ten years, over 1000 papers have been presented at the annual ASEE national conference describing the development and utilization of case studies. When they are designed and implemented correctly, case studies can be a very effective pedagogical technique. A good discussion that makes the case for their use has been provided by Barrott (2001), who promulgates four key advantages, including linking students to the real world, improving critical thinking skills, developing communication skills, and involving students in cooperative learning. Although case studies can be implemented in the classroom in a variety of ways, and with varying levels of success, several authors have recently discussed appropriate methodologies and strategies for implementing their use. There is, however, a need for a comprehensive review of the use of case studies in the engineering and technology classroom.